The 31-year-old remained defiant until Sunday night when, in an unusually contrite interview with South Africa's public broadcaster, he said ANC membership had been "my life" after he joined the party aged nine and rose to become its youth league president.

"Please leave me with a card because the imagination of being outside the ANC is too scary," Malema told SABC television. "I love the ANC, I don't have anything except the ANC."

A party disciplinary committee found Malema guilty of comparing Zuma unfavourably with his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and calling for the overthrow of the democratically elected government in neighbouring Botswana.

Malema, wearing a black beret and yellow T-shirt with a portrait of Nelson Mandela, said on Sunday: "I want to also apologise to the leadership of the ANC for anything that they think I have done wrong.

"I did not do it deliberately. I was making a contribution. I thought it was strengthening the movement as required by the constitution of the ANC youth league to support the movement."

Malema said that if necessary he would take his appeal against expulsion all the way to an ANC conference scheduled for the end of the year, adding: "I will die with my boots on."

Asked what his options were if he exhausted all appeal options, Malema said he would continue with his studies, pursue business interests and continue cattle farming.

If finally confirmed, his expulsion would help clear the way for Zuma to win a second term as ANC leader at the same conference.

Malema has previously criticised the ANC's leadership for lacking the radical policies, such as nationalising mines and seizing land without compensation, that he says are necessary to liberate South Africa's black majority from poverty, unemployment and inequality.

"There is no court of law that has found me corrupt. I have never had power to channel tenders," Malema said. "This media will destroy democracy in South Africa."

The media needed a structure "with teeth" that would enforce regulation, he added. South Africa's parliament is considering a protection of information bill that critics say will threaten freedom of speech. The ANC has also proposed a media appeals tribunal, which is proving equally controversial.